Rams 2nd-year defender highlighted as LA's most underappreciated player

[CoachAllred]

Rams 2nd-year defender highlighted as LA's most underappreciated player​

Kamren Kinchens has already proved he can be one of the top playmaking safeties in the NFL​

Ali Jawad
Rams Wire

Kamren Kinchens had to wait a while to hear his name called during the 2024 NFL Draft. By the time he was selected, 98 players had already come off the board. His stock had slipped, not because of production or character, but because of a stopwatch. A 4.65 40-yard dash at the combine knocked the Miami safety down draft boards, and by the end of Round 3, the Los Angeles Rams were happy to take the gamble.
It didn’t take long for that bet to pay off.
NFL.com's Gennaro Filice recently named Kinchens as the Rams’ most underappreciated player heading into the 2025 season, a nod to a debut campaign that flew under the national radar but didn’t go unnoticed by opposing quarterbacks. It’s the kind of recognition that suggests bigger things might be on the way.

Blame the Underwear Olympics. Shoddy athletic testing at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine depressed the safety’s draft stock, allowing the Rams to scoop him up with the penultimate pick of Round 3. But the 4.65 40-yard dash didn’t prevent the rookie from picking off four passes -- and taking one 103 yards to the house. An instinctive ballhawk who grabbed 11 interceptions in his final two collegiate campaigns at Miami, Kinchens is further proof that play speed transfers quite nicely to the NFL. After all, Ed Reed ran a 4.57 40 in Indy, and he might be the greatest center fielder in league history.

It was an offseason that saw Los Angeles reload on both sides of the ball and Kinchens quietly emerged as one of the most impactful rookies on the roster last year. He finished the 2024 season with 57 tackles, four interceptions, six pass deflections, one forced fumble, one recovery, and a highlight-reel 103-yard pick-six that changed the course of a midseason win.



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Instincts. Timing. Ball skills. The traits that made him a college standout translated immediately, even if the pre-draft narrative suggested otherwise. His speed on tape never matched his time in Indy, and in today’s NFL where anticipation and positioning matter more than straight-line speed, Kinchens fits right in.
Kinchens may not have turned heads under the lights of the combine, but put him in pads on Sundays and the story changes. The Rams found themselves a steal, and he’s just getting started.

 

[Memento]

Let's not forget that Jaylen McCollough had the same number of picks (and pick-sixes, for that matter), and he often played in a hybrid linebacker/safety role with less snaps than Kinchens. Kinchens absolutely is underappreciated, and he deserves a lot of attention, but I think McCollough could end up being our starting box safety in the future.

 

[CoachAllred]

Let's not forget that Jaylen McCollough had the same number of picks

i know right? Was just looking over our safety room.
Got to be the deepest position group on team. We are "Safety rich".
Glad Lake is so versatile. Can play Either safety position or nickel back Star position

 

[Memento]

i know right? Was just looking over our safety room.
Got to be the deepest position group on team. We are "Safety rich".
Glad Lake is so versatile. Can play Either safety position or nickel back Star position

Honestly, even though we're probably going to lose Ingle, Jolly, and Green to other teams after they're cut, we have a surprisingly deep secondary with intriguing young pieces. Curl and Lake are only twenty-six. Durant is twenty-seven. McCollough, Forbes, Wallace, and Woods will turn twenty-five during the season; Cam Lampkin will turn twenty-four. Valcarcel and Dixon-Williams are interesting rookie safeties. And we could add some other pieces as well. ...And I suppose Kendrick is an option as well.

Lots of depth in our secondary.

 

[Merlin]

4.6 is not slow for a safety btw. It is probably average range for them. These guys aren't corners.

Now the safeties who go early can put up corner numbers in their workouts. But they are not corners for a reason. And many of them bust. It's not like athleticism, after all, is better than good instincts. A safety who can read the formation and is in the right spot most snaps will outplay a more athletic safety who doesn't have good instincts. This is because the two tenths of a second difference in speed in the 40 are easily beaten by a one or two second advantage in reaction speed.

All that aside I am not high on Kinchens. Still waiting to see with him. He improved as the year went on, however it feels like the Rams are better at finding box safeties than they are the ones who can drop and anticipate in the pass game. Many of the box types can be pretty good in man coverage, provided they're not matching up with a top draw. But the separator with them is the decision making when they're deep or over the top and must be decisive in space.

Curl is better near the LOS. So is Kinchens. McCullough showed some instincts but it was usually near the LOS. Lake is a big strong type too, built for the box. So I'd love to see Kinchens develop and am pulling for him but I see no reason to crown the kid yet. Let him earn it.